Upgrading Suspension Sooner or Later

[DAE]

And from what I've gathered, intentions are very important. So no, I'm not autocrossing or drag-racing. This will be an, aggressive, daily driver. Anyways, I was thinking about doing the Tein SS-P if only because I liked the addition of the EDFC to adjust my suspension on the fly. However, it seems like a lot of people have problems with their pillowball mounts and other parts. Are there any other electronically adjustable coilovers? If not, would the Konis and Ground Controls be a better setup than, say, C-one, Tanabe, or Tein coilovers? (And are the Trial coilovers overpriced just because of the name?)

Do know that by "better," I'm always thinking about performance. My next priority is durability / reliability (both of the part and how it affects the same qualities on my car). I don't really care too much about comfort or name brands.



On a side note, are the bushings that important of an upgrade or is it more or less for bragging rights (i.e. negligible difference)? If I have a 7 year old car, should I upgrade them for the sake of replacing a potentially worn item?

[neological]

Cusco makes the E-Con adjustment system and Tanabe makes TEAS. Tein SS-Ps are probably your best bet but adjustment in cabin is gimmicky, remember your suspension only has 1 right dampening setting for your spring rate but dozens of wrong ones. You figure out the right one and leave it. People who change that crap on the fly on the street are just playing with buttons.

You don't want to replace your bushings unless they are wrong the the point that they are missing or not doing anything. You want stock bushings in a street car. I would also steer away from upper mounts because it's a street car and solid upper mounts would increase NVH. Sure you could put in camber plates (also upping the NVH) but a street car has a perfectly fine amount of camber available from cheap-ass crash bolts. I would honestly not run very much negative camber at all on a street setup and zero toe.

Trial's coilovers are overpriced and I have yet to see a japanese coilover under 2k that was worth anything in terms of proven performance (almost all japanese coilovers specialize in just replacing your stock struts/springs with something really blingy with mystery crap valving that adjusts compression and rebound at once so you're just chasing your tail adjusting them).

The best thing you could get are konis and ground controls, period. there is no better setup for the celica in terms of performance.

[MicaCeli]

Agree with Neo on all points. Heck I was even happy with my TRD setup, TRD springs (Eibach) TRD sport struts (KYB Gr2) rode very well on the street and the car was tossable.

[DAE]

Thanks for the informative response Neo. You've probably just saved me at least a few hundred dollars (and likely more).

[SilverGT5783]

Agree with Neo on all points. Heck I was even happy with my TRD setup, TRD springs (Eibach) TRD sport struts (KYB Gr2) rode very well on the street and the car was tossable.

Thats what my setup is going to be.

[twiztedkyle]

skunk2 spirngs w/ kyb agx shock/sturts work well aslso

[neological]

Skunk 2 springs are for people who only care about how low their car is. I would not recommend them at all.